Being "unreasonable" drove me to Amazon VP
George Bernard Shaw said “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
What does "unreasonable" mean in practice as a leader?
When my wife wants to go to dinner with friends, she asks them what kind of food they might like and when would be convenient. When I want to go to dinner with friends, I tell them that I am putting together an Italian dinner at 7PM and would they like to come.
The key difference is between proposing something versus asking what others think first.
"Unreasonable" can be a bad word, but really the key in the quote is about trying to adapt the world to your own beliefs.
This is the important thing I want to get across to you — I had an opinion and I was willing to push to try to adapt the world to my belief.
There is great value in getting input from others. There is also great value in getting moving. I favored putting forward a proposal and what I realized is that often times other people do not have strong opinions; they are willing to go along with what is proposed.
I want to be clear — no doubt sometimes I missed out on input that would have made the plans better. I probably irritated people who did not agree with my proposals but were not willing to push back. But, I also got a lot of projects moving. We shipped things quickly. Often enough (not always), they worked well, and my teams were considered successful.
More importantly, you can try to lead by getting everyone to agree with you, or you can start moving and work with those people who follow you. Since it is a big world with lots of people, I do not need everyone to follow and neither do you!
Instead, you need enough people to get you to the goal. The more goals you hit, the more value you produce, and the more willing the next set of people will be to follow you.
I coined a phrase at Amazon to explain this: "Results are the currency of credibility."
The more results you produce, the more credible you will be when you make your next proposal.
It may sound like I never asked questions or I never took input. This is not true. I believe good questions and listening to others are both very important skills. But I was also very willing to make a critical decision. I was (and am) gifted with a blend of confidence bordering on arrogance that allows me to make a choice and head down a path.
Lead in any style that works for you, but realize at some point you need to take action.
I invite other leaders to comment. I also invite those who might not like "pushy" leaders like me to share how we can engage you WITHOUT slowing down. Speed and action matter. We cannot wait for perfect agreement.
Reader follow-up questions.
Q1: How do you become more “unreasonable”?
It requires two steps that you cycle between: (A) Work to increase your conviction that your plan or idea is sound; (B) Put real effort into fighting your self doubt / fears that the criticisms of others create, and advocating for your ideas. You do A to enable you to do B. You do B until you need more A.
Q2: Would you say being pushy works at all levels of seniority in the organization? (For the one pushing)
I was born this way, more or less, and it worked my whole life, not just as a leader. I pushed this way all the way back in college.
But, I cannot say it works at all companies or for all people. I'm a highly educated white male in tech. For a minority woman, it might totally fail.
That said, I got a lot more successful as I learned to be more diplomatic. Yes, at all ages I made proposals and advocated for them. But I got better and better at doing so over time.
So I think finding a way to make a proposal is the right path...But different people may have to do so differently. The point is, surface a plan, don't just ask others what they want.
Q3: How do you judge which stakeholders are important or valuable to have on board versus those who you prioritize biasing for action around?
Candidly (that arrogance part), I normally assumed I could get people onboard. My process was to make a proposal and if people went along, great. If not, then I understood their objections and worked to address them.
I cannot say I always got everyone onboard, but honestly, I more often onboarded people with plans that were not good enough (my plan was lacking) than I was blocked. That said, I don't want to give the impression that most plans were half-baked. Amazon's planning process ensured they were well-considered.
How to break through to executive
If you want to learn what makes a great executive, how executives are selected, and how to manage your promotion process, then enroll in my live online class that takes place December 9-10 (on the weekend so that busy leaders can make it).
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Audience Insights
Additional ideas worth considering from my LinkedIn audience:
Be unreasonably driven, but intellectually reasonable. Match your “unreasonableness” with being open to a different perspective and changing your mind.
In regards to Amazon’s document writing culture, sometimes it gets into too many revisions, too many layers of approval, and too much focus on "doc quality" rather than the ideas. But, overall it is a good tool to hone ideas. You must apply it with the same sense of urgency.
For example: "Yes, the doc isn't perfect, but can we move on the concept today? If not, what one thing do we need to unblock that?"
A few Amazon leaders shared that they prefer a document that states: “We plan to do option one unless you disagree. And here are a few other options we've eliminated." Instead of: “Option one is our preferred but here's option two and three and it could be option 4..."
Trust is a key ingredient. You build trust by being clear and reliable. This means saying what you will do and then doing what you said. This applies to all stakeholders (e.g. managers, direct reports, peers, skip, etc.).
A reader shared: “I used to be one of those people looking for input first in the spirit of driving consensus but over the years learned that leading with a proposal was far more efficient and effective.”
Be aware, do not fall into “The bear is sticky with honey” trap (from HBO’s hit TV series, Silicon Valley). Read about it here and/or watch this 3 minute video clip (it’s funny).
A good enough plan started and completed often beats a better plan started later.
“If you want to make everyone happy don't be a leader, sell ice cream” — Steve Jobs.
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Level Up is a free newsletter from retired Amazon Vice President Ethan Evans that breaks down how he succeeded and how you can get to the next level.
Loved the phrase "Results are the currency of credibility"
As a fellow Amazonian, I think the "are right a lot" Leadership Principle is key to being unreasonable. Pushing for a weak idea will get you nowhere, and will harm the people around you. But pushing for the right ideas will make progress.
A tricky balance. This was a nice reframing of the side of the balance of being right. Thanks for writing it, Ethan.
It is important to remind that most people don’t hold a strong opinion about important things. The vast majority of people in business are followers or operators. They contribute to impactful initiatives and priorities, but they are not the ones creating change. That requires having conviction on our strong opinions, hence, the A-B loop you mentioned. It is not always true though, some organizations have more strongly opinionated people and it becomes harder to
get buy-in as they have their own agenda.